How To Get Lily To Fall For James
by Beckettsbabe09
Summary: James loves Lily. Lily hates James. How will he get her to fall for him? Well with a brilliant plan of course! This is my take on how Lily and James finally got together. Hiatus WIP
1. Did He Drug Dumbledore?

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything but my OCs...*sigh***

It was a new year, another chance. A tall, muscular boy of seventeen smiled as he packed his trunk. This year was going to be different. Mainly because, he, James Potter, had been appointed Head Boy, to everyone's surprise. He was looking forward to his new position immensely, mainly due to the fact that he would get to work side-by-side with the new Head Girl, which would undoubtedly be the beautiful Lily Evans.

James had been in love with her ever since third year. He loved everything about her. He even loved her flaws, although he thought she didn't have many. He'd asked her out around a thousand times since then. The only problem was that she thought him to be too immature.

This year, however, he'd show her. He'd show her how much he'd matured. He'd show her the side of him that few people even knew existed. He'd prove to her that he did love her, and that he wasn't just playing around.

His thoughts were interrupted as a book was tossed at his head, missing him by inches.

"I was talking to you!"

James looked over at the offender. Sirius Black, one of his best friends, was looking back, with a false hurt look upon his face. He had long dark hair and a smirk that made the majority of the girls at Hogwarts fall at his feet. Even the hurt look he was giving James would cause most to melt.

"Sorry, mate. I was in my own little world."

"Yes, and it's Evans infested. What about _me_?" He wiped an invisible tear away from the corner of his eye.

"Sorry, Padfoot, what were you talking about?"

"Our beginning of the year prank, I was thinking that we should put fireworks down Snivellus's pants and set them off during Potions. What do you think?"

"It's brilliant! We'll have to work out the specifics on the train with the rest of the Marauders." James threw a copy of this year's Charms book into his trunk and looked over at Sirius, who was practically jumping on his bed.

"This year is going to be the Marauders' best year ever!" Sirius punched the air, causing himself to fall off the bed. James just shook his head and threw a pair of socks at him.

"Are you forgetting that I've been appointed Head Boy?"

"Oh." Sirius's face fell. "I did. It's so depressing! Why didn't you just turn down the position?"

"Because this is my last chance to prove to Lily that I'm not just asking her out for my own amusement!" he replied.

"Yeah, yeah. You aren't going to quit pranking, are you?"

"No, never! Listen, I won't stop being a Marauder. I'll just have to tone it down some." James heard his mother yell from the kitchen. It was time to go. He and Sirius hastily threw the rest of their stuff into their trunks and bolted out the door in order to start making their way to Platform 9 ¾.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Lily Evans walked up the corridor, her beautiful, long red hair flowing behind her, her emerald green eyes sparking with excitement, and her new Head Girl badge shining proudly from her robes. This year was going to be wonderful. This year she wasn't going to let James Potter get to her.

She stopped in front of the compartment (where, in just a few short minutes, she and the new Head Boy would be briefing the prefects on their duties) to make sure her hair was not a mess. She wanted to look as professional as possible, after all.

She opened the compartment and nearly fainted. There, seated beside the window with a book in his hand, was the bane of her existence, James Potter. Her eyes traveled down to his chest, where a Head Boy badge was pinned. This had to be a mistake. _How could he get appointed Head Boy?_ It seemed as if James could hear her thoughts. He looked up at her and grinned.

"Hello, Evans. From your shocked look, I take it you're wondering why I'm here."

"Yes, you could say that." She glared at James as if it would make him go away. She _had_ to be seeing things.

"Don't look at me like that!" James exclaimed. "I thought it would be Remus!"

"That may be the first thing we have ever agreed on, Potter. How the bloody hell did you get appointed?" She watched as James pulled a letter from the inside of the book he was holding. He handed it over to her, looking as if he was scared she was going to rip his head off if he got too close.

The letter was almost identical to the one she had received over the summer, except for a paragraph toward the middle. It explained (probably more to Potter's parents) why he'd gotten the position. _Exceptional student, despite his mischief making, great role model _(ha, I'm sure)

Lily jumped as she was tapped on the shoulder. She turned to see a line of Prefects behind her, waiting to get in. She hastily moved out of their way as they came into the compartment and took their seats.

Lily gave James one more scathing glare before turning to face the Prefects. "Welcome back! For those of you who don't know, I'm Lily Evans and this is-"

"James Potter." He gave them a smile and ran his hand through his hair, a move that Lily loathed.

"We are the Head Girl and Boy. For those of you who are new Prefects, I'm going to tell you the rules and expectations…" She began reciting the speech she'd practiced over and over since she had been appointed.

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James watched her intently. For the most part, he listened, but he kept losing his focus. He had to admire how dedicated to this Lily was. She went from speechless and furious with him to Head Girl mode. If she was nervous, she didn't show it.

Before he knew it, she was looking over at him. "Do you have anything to add, Potter?"

"Yes. Some of the teachers may go easy on you because of your position. I've seen it happen to a Prefect before. He used the 'I couldn't finish my essay because I had rounds' excuse, and all that. Don't even bother thinking that McGonagall is one of the ones who will fall for it. She favours none. You can still get on her bad side. Beware!"

"Anything else?" Lily asked.

"No, that covers it." replied James. Lily dismissed the prefects, looking relived that it was over. When she reached the doorway, James called out behind her "See you later, Evans." He watched as she turned and nodded, giving him a tight smile.

As she left, James couldn't help thinking that this was a good way to start the new year. He was going to have fun.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Lily entered her compartment, her good mood now shattered. She was still having trouble accepting the fact that James Potter was the new Head Boy.

"Lily?" Her head snapped up. Sitting in the compartment were two of her best friends, Tessa Daniels and Adria McGillion.

Lily couldn't help but shriek in delight. She hadn't seen her friends all summer. It seemed that Tessa had dyed her hair over the break. Her long, black hair was now a dark, striking shade of blue. The most striking thing about her, however, were her eyes. She had one green eye and one sky blue one. Sitting next to her, Adria just looked like an average girl. She had waist length blonde hair and blue eyes. The only thing that made her stand out was her intelligence. She was the second smartest girl in her year, next to Lily.

"Hey!" she said, giving them each a big hug before taking a seat across from them. "It's _so_ great to see you! You have no idea how lonely it was at home. Petunia got engaged, and the hippo that asked her was over just about every night. I spent most of the summer in my room! But enough about me, I want to hear about your summers, with details!" The train jolted to a start, and the journey began.

The girls talked the hours away. Finally, when all the good summer stories had been told, and they were finishing off the last of the Chocolate Frogs, Tessa remembered what a foul mood Lily had been in when she had entered the compartment.

Lily looked over at Tessa and saw her whole face light up, as it usually did when she had remembered something important, and Tessa asked, staring intently at Lily, "You looked like they'd told you that they'd reconsidered your Head Girl-ship."

Lily's face darkened at the question and she replied through gritted teeth. "Guess who they chose for Head Boy?"

"Remus, of course," answered Adria, sounding as though the answer was pretty obvious.

"Adria's lover boy," Tessa answered at the same time. She then received a slap on the arm from Adria before they all broke out into fits of laughter. It was no secret between them. They all knew that Adria had a huge crush on Remus Lupin, an intelligent, cute, sandy haired boy in their year. He also happened to be another one of the infamous Marauders. They were best friends, but Remus seemed oblivious to the fact that Adria had an almighty crush on him.

"No, not Remus," Lily answered, still through gritted teeth.

"Who got it then? There is no way he can be better than Remus," Adria half-growled.

"James Potter."

You could have heard a pin drop in the deathly silence that ensued. It lasted for quite a few moments before Tessa and Adria both broke out into hysterical laughter.

"That was a good one Lils! Did Remus put you up to that?" Tessa asked finally regaining her breath.

"I'm not joking!"

The two girls laughed harder.

"I'm serious!" Lily cried in frustration.

"No, I'm Sirius!" Lily turned to see none other than the Marauders, minus Peter Pettigrew, their fourth member, standing in the doorway to the compartment.

"Oh, go away, Black! You're ruining all the fun."

"Tessie, baby, I am the fun!"

Tessa just rolled her eyes and glared at him. "How many times do I have to tell you not to call me Tessie, Black? Do you plan on keeping your family jewels this year? If so, you'll get out of here!"

"Come on, people. We have to be civil to each other," James said entering the compartment after Remus. He looked half tempted to take the seat next to Lily. But as soon as he even looked that way, Tessa jumped up and sat down beside of Lily.

"Goodness, Potter. When you said you'd see me later I thought you meant at the feast, or better yet, never!" Lily exclaimed, watching Adria and Remus as they began to talk animatedly to one another.

"Me, too" he replied, taking the seat next to Remus. "But Remus wanted to come and talk to Adria, and Sirius has developed this strange separation anxiety thing for Remus over the summer. So, naturally, we followed."

Until that moment, Tessa hadn't realised that in saving Lily she had subjected herself to the ultimate horror: Sirius Black. Once James had sat down, Sirius had taken the only available seat, next to Tessa. Having James across from her, however, gave her a clear view of him and his shiny, new badge. She looked over at Lily in disbelief.

"You weren't kidding, were you?"

"No!" Lily exclaimed.

"Really?" asked Adria, looking over at James and his badge. "What in the world? Has Dumbledore gone batty?"

"That's what I'm still wondering. I mean, I knew he was a little off, but he must have completely lost it over the summer!"

"What are they talking about?" James asked Remus, cringing at some of the comments that were being made.

"No idea." Remus tapped Adria on the shoulder. "What are you guys talking about?"

"_Him_!" all three girls answered, pointing at James.

"Oh. Okay. I think it's time to go!" James made to get up, but Sirius got up and blocked the door.

"What about Prongs?" Sirius asked, pushing the boy in question back down onto his seat.

"How did you get to be Head Boy?" Adria asked him, looking a little bit more than angry. "Did you drug Dumbledore or something?"

"No. In his letter he told my parents that he thought I was a great student…despite my mischief making, that is."

"_So_!" James just sat there, looking stunned. He'd seen Adria mad a few times over the years, but he'd never seen her furious. Not to mention the fact the he'd never been on the receiving end of her wrath.

"Addie, it's okay. Honestly, I'm happy for James. Maybe this will keep him out of so much trouble," Remus said, patting her arm. This seemed to calm her down.

"We need to change into our robes," Lily announced, looking at her watch. Remus and James stood up to leave, but Sirius sat back down.

"Don't mind me; I'm fine right where I am." Sirius received a rather sharp slap up side the head, just before he was dragged from the compartment, the door slamming shut behind him.

"That went well," Lily heard Sirius' muffled voice state.

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James sat in between Sirius and Remus watching the Sorting ceremony. So far, they had already welcomed three new Gryffindors. James stole a glance at Lily. He couldn't wait for the morning. The plan would be put into action starting tomorrow morning. Sirius caught him staring and gave him a rather sharp nudge in the ribs.

"So, what's this plan called, anyway?"

"How to get Lily to fall for James, part three."

"No…" Remus counted on his fingers, "This would be part six."

"I was only counting the _major_ attempts."

"Oh." Remus just rolled his eyes.

"I'd still call it at least four, then Prongs." Sirius grinned evilly. He couldn't wait to see James's face when he remembered.

"Why's that?"

"Remember back in fifth year? You stood up on the Staff table and magnified your voice."

James groaned at the memory. Peter, who had joined them at the feast, started laughing so hard, he fell out of his seat. He was a short, fat boy with blonde hair and watery eyes. By looking at him, you wouldn't think he was anything special. That's why it amazed everybody that he, too, was a Marauder. "Then you confessed your love for her and asked her to Hogsmeade. That was priceless!" Peter gasped from his place on the floor.

James cringed as he remembered Lily screaming some comments he was sure her mother wouldn't approve of, then storming out of the Great Hall

"'I do believe, gentlemen, that month's worth of detentions made it so that I reached five hundred first!" None of them replied as, at that moment, the food had arrived. He waited until they had all filled their plates before carrying on.

"Besides, I'm not the only one with women problems."

"You got your period!" Sirius exclaimed. Needless to say, it attracted several curious stares.

"No, Pads. You know what I mean! You've yet to find a woman who has your full attention…"

"Plenty of girls get my attention," he replied, watching a Ravenclaw sixth year walking down the aisle to her table.

"…for more than a few days," James finished, poking him in the shoulder.

"He has a point, Padfoot," Remus interjected, regretting it immediately. James's gaze landed on him.

"And you, Moony. _You_ are in denial."

"Prongs, Moony is right there, sitting across from you. I don't think he's ever even been to Egypt," Peter stated, looking as though he thought James had gone off his rocker.

"_Denial_, Wormtail, not The Nile." Peter just smiled and kept eating, making James wonder if he had truly gotten it.

"Why do you think I'm in denial?"

"You like her a lot. You just won't admit it to yourself."

"It wouldn't work," Remus answered, almost instantly, looking down at his plate. James just shook his head and turned to Peter, who had a slightly worried look on his face.

"Wormtail…well…we're lucky if Wormtail doesn't wet himself around girls. See, we all have some little problem."

. They all laughed at the memory of Peter wetting himself in front of Amy March back in third year. "All right, all right," Remus said "So, how is your plan supposed to work, Prongs?"

"Well… I'm going to show her the more mature and civil side of me, gradually causing her to fall in love with me."

"That may work, Prongs. That may very well work." Remus said, a thoughtful look on his face.

"Yeah," Sirius laughed, "and I'm the Queen of England."

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The feast was over too soon for Lily. It wasn't as if she was avoiding James. It was just that she was in such a wonderful mood; she didn't want him to ruin it.

"First years, follow me please." As she and James led the first years through the castle, Lily began to remember her first time taking this walk.

"Hard to believe that this was us six years ago," James commented, pointing back toward the first years. At that moment a few ghosts passed through the wall in front of them. Several of the "midgets" as James liked to call them, shrieked. There was one boy who actually called 'hello' to them, however

"Yes, and there's you!" Lily replied, remembering James doing the same thing on their first day and, to her surprise, a small smile crept across her face at the memory.

"You're right. He's a good candidate for the Marauders in training."

"You're going to corrupt little children? That's awful, Potter."

"What? It's our last year. We have to train replacements." Lily just shook her head as they approached the portrait. She gave the password, (tractus monachus) and escorted the first years into the common room.

"All right, everyone. This is the common room. You can study or just socialise in here. Now, girls' dormitories are on the right, boys' are on the left. You should probably head off to bed now. Your trunks are waiting in your room. Goodnight."

They watched the first years climb the stairs in silence.

"I think we should go and see Dumbledore now. I'm getting sort of sleepy," James suggested, suppressing a yawn.

"All right, let's go."

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They arrived at Dumbledore's office in silence. Lily hadn't felt like making small talk with _the enemy_. She gave him her infamous _I Hate You Potter_ look, but didn't say a word.

"Congratulations to both of you. I gave you these positions because I believe that the two of you can do some good for this school together."

Lily couldn't help but snort at that. Dumbledore raised his eyebrows, but continued as if he hadn't noticed. "With your combined talent and intelligence…" Now Lily had to try _very_ hard not to burst out laughing. "…I'm sure this will be an easy task. If you follow me, I'll show you to your new dormitory."

They followed him in silence. Well, almost. James had taken it upon himself to provide them with some entertainment. So, after two minutes of what Lily considered blissful silence, he started humming. It took only a few more minutes before Dumbledore joined in.

_Great. They're both mad, that's just perfect._

Lily endured several minutes of torture before they reached their destination. They stood before what Lily thought was one of the most beautiful portraits she had ever seen. It was one of a couple dancing. Like most of the portraits at Hogwarts, it was centuries old. The woman wore a beautiful floor length gown, looking as if she were a princess in some fairy tale.

"You may choose your password now, if you wish," Dumbledore announced. Before Lily could even think of one, James jumped at the chance.

"Lily and James forever." He gave her a wink as the woman in the portrait nodded and the portrait swung open.

"You wish, Potter! Professor, can he do that?" She gave Dumbledore her best pleading look, even throwing in the puppy dog eyes.

"I'm afraid he can. You get to pick the new password in two months. Now, let's get going and see where you'll be staying this year."

Lily nodded reluctantly, and followed Dumbledore and a beaming James through the portrait hole.

The room was absolutely beautiful. It looked like a miniature version of the Gryffindor common room. On one end of the room, two desks sat facing huge windows that overlooked the lake. There were a few chairs and a table sitting in front of the fireplace, and a few were scattered around the room.

"Miss Evans, your room is up the right staircase; Mr. Potter, yours is on the left. Have a good night's rest. I'll see you in the morning." With that he swept out of the room.

James looked over at Lily and grinned. "Race you." he said, and took off like a shot toward his staircase.

Lily couldn't help but laugh at his enthusiasm as, she too, ran up her stairs. What she found at the top was amazing.

Her room was huge. It was decorated in lavender, her favorite color. She had a huge canopy bed, just like she had always wanted at home. She went over to the wall on the right and opened up the door there, revealing a rather large closet. _Oh yes. I'll need this._

She looked around and spotted another door on the other side of the room. Making her way over to it, she pulled it open and gasped. It was the bathroom. It (like everything else it seemed) was rather large. But that wasn't what made her gasp. On the other side of the room was another door, and in it stood James.

"You've got to be kidding me. We share a bathroom? Great." She walked over to him and tried to look over his shoulder, but failed miserably. "What does your room look like?"

He didn't answer her, just moved out of her way and gestured for her to come in. She stepped in and was blinded. The whole room was red and gold.

"Have any House pride?" she asked.

"Just a little," he laughed, holding up his fingers a good two feet apart. "What does yours look like?"

"Go and see" She followed him back to her room and sat down at her vanity table.

"It suits you. Lavender is your favorite color after all."

"Yes it is," she said as he gave her room another glance. _How did he know that?_

"Well, I'm beat, Evans. I'll see you in the morning."

"Good night, Potter."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Lily dressed and got into bed that night, thinking about the future. This was her last year at Hogwarts. She wasn't even sure what she was going to do after school. Well, aside from getting as far away from her sister as possible.

Banishing all thoughts of the future and her sister out of her head, Lily was faced with the present issue: living with the Head Boy, who had turned out to be none other than James Potter. Well…at least he hadn't asked her out yet. With that last thought, Lily drifted off into a deep sleep.

**Authors Note: Hey! Thanks for reading this story! Did you like it? Well, review and tell me please! PLEASE! Thanks so much to my super beta! This wouldn't be anywhere near as good if she hadn't helped me! Thank you SO much! Also big thanks to my muses, my Sarakins and Lil' Dick! It's my first Lily and James fic. It also has a bit of Remus/OC and Sirius/OC, but that comes mostly in later chapters.**


	2. Phase One Begins

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OCs. Would I be sitting here writing THIS if I did?**

**Authors Note: And here, my dearest readers, is the second chapter! Of course DH is disregarded in this fic, seeing as I started it before it was published.**

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**~*~*~ **So as to not cause any confusion, let me differentiate between handwriting. _ Lily's Handwriting, __**Adria's Handwriting**_, **and Tessa's Handwriting.** ~*~*~

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_Beep. Beep. Beep. _

God, Lily hated that noise. That charm was her mortal enemy. It never failed, she would be at a great part of her dream or be in the most comfortable stage of sleep, and it would go off.

Back in her second year, Flitwick had taught it to her. Apparently, her dorm mates were the only ones in the school who couldn't get up in time for class and it was up to her to fix the problem. After so many years it had stayed with her. It had been almost an unconscious act when she set it the night before. After every ten beeps it would say 'Time to get up!' in a really annoying, high pitched voice. It was the one thing she hated about going back to school.

Lily reached over and grabbed her wand. She groggily waved her arm to snooze it, knowing full well that she wouldn't be up by the time it rang again. It was the first day of classes. Joy. Don't get the wrong idea, Lily loved classes. It was just the getting up early thing she had a problem with. Sometime during her thoughts about her classes, Lily slipped back into sleep.

"Time to get up!" _Beep. Beep. Beep_

_What the hell was that?_ James threw off his covers and sat up. He looked around the room, searching for the culprit. He soon realized, however, that the sound wasn't coming from his room. With a groan, he got up from his bed and stumbled toward the bathroom door. With much difficulty (thanks to a rug in front of the sink) James finally made it to Lily's door.

"Evans! Evans, turn that thing off _please_." He pounded on the door, hoping that she could hear him over the stupid clock. After a few moments' delay, the beeping finally stopped. "Thank you." He slowly made his way back to his bed and flopped down, asleep in an instant.

Lily, on the other hand, was now wide awake. James's knocking had drawn her out of her half-asleep state. Deciding that there was nothing better to do, she got up out of bed and walked into the bathroom to take a shower. And so the morning began.

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Lily was ecstatic. She was awake, she was clean, and it was the first day back. She was sitting in a chair by the fireplace when James finally came down the stairs.

"Evans, what was that bloody racket this morning?"

"That was my charm, Potter." She watched him slump down onto the chair opposite hers with amusement.

"Why was it ringing that early in the morning? The birds weren't even up yet."

"There's nothing wrong with getting up a little early."

"Getting up? Evans, I do believe you were sleeping through it. How's that possible? I mean, it talks, for crying out loud!"

"I was not sleeping! I was ignoring it. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going down to breakfast." With that, she left.

James groaned, putting his head in his hands. It wasn't supposed to go like that. He was supposed to woo her. Not insult her charm! Ugh…it was too early.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Lily was sitting at the table when her friends finally showed up.

"Good morning," Tessa announced cheerily, grabbing a plate and quickly filling it.

"What's put you in such a good mood? I haven't seen you this happy since Black singed his hair in your potion last year."

"Well, I woke up this morning and you would not believe what happened."

"What?" Lily questioned, becoming more curious by the second. Nothing exciting had ever happened while she was _in_ the dormitory. It was just her luck that something would happen her first night away.

"I woke up on my own! It was the first time in five years that I've woken up on my own. There's only one good thing about you getting your own room. There's no one there to cast that stupid alarm charm! I _loathed_ that thing."

Lily sighed. She had been expecting to find that she'd missed out on catching one of her other dorm mates with their boyfriend.

"Yes, Potter isn't too fond of it either."

Tessa and Adria just chuckled.

"Speak of the devil," Tessa said, gesturing toward the door. Lily and Adria looked up to see the Marauders walking in. Lily just rolled her eyes and went back to her breakfast. Adria, however, kept her eyes trained on Remus. She snapped back when Tessa and Lily burst into laughter.

"What? What did I miss?"

"Nothing. It's just that…he's clueless, Adria!"

"You don't think I know that?" she answered, putting her head in her hands. They had been over this conversation almost fifty times.

"Who?" asked the man in question as he sat down beside Adria.

"Nobody!" she answered quickly, looking back down at her plate. Remus knew she was lying then. She couldn't look him in the eye when she was lying. He looked over at Tessa and Lily, begging them to tell him.

"Just a guy she likes," Tessa said, ducking the blow that came towards her, sent by a blushing Adria.

"You like somebody?" Remus asked, in disbelief. As long as he'd known her, Adria had been more about school than boys. She'd only had two boyfriends in her time at Hogwarts, neither relationship lasting more than a few weeks.

"No!"

"She's lying. She's pretty much head over heels for this boy," Lily added, avoiding Adria's death glare.

"Who is it?" Remus looked over at the fuming girl, suddenly very curious.

"I…can't tell you," she finally answered, giving up the fight.

"Right…" Now Remus was extremely confused. Adria had never kept anything from him before. They were completely honest with each other. Besides the Marauders, she was the only one of his friends that knew about his secret.

"Why no-," he was cut short by the arrival of one of the girls' best friends and her boyfriend.

"Angela!" Lily smiled as she noticed the brown haired girl walking towards them. "Where were you yesterday?"

"Well…T.J. and I found our own compartment-"

"_Stop_! I don't want to hear what you two bunnies were doing," Tessa yelled, putting her hands over her ears. This sent the whole group into a fit of laughter. Unfortunately, McGonagall picked this moment to show up with their class schedules. They sat in silence for a few moments before they began to compare classes. The rest of breakfast passed in much of the same manner: catching up with old friends, comparing classes, and talking.

Finally the bell rang for first class. Grudgingly, they all got up to go. On the bright side, everyone but Peter (due to the fact that he had failed his Transfiguration and Potions OWLs) had class together: Transfiguration.

Class started the same way as it had every first day for the past six years. McGonagall would say something, and then Sirius would say something. McGonagall would say something, and then Sirius would say something. McGonagall would give him a detention and all would be right with the world.

"This will be one of the hardest years you will have ever faced at Hogwarts."

"That's alright Minnie, I like it rough!" Sirius called from the back of the room, winking. McGonagall just rolled her eyes and continued.

"I will be available after class to assist you if you have any problems."

"I can guarantee you a visit. I'm sure I'll need help with my 'problems'." Sirius gave her another wink and then blew her a kiss.

"Mr. Black, that is _enough_! Detention, tomorrow night!"

"Trying to get me alone, Minnie?"

"_Black_! Another detention! You will be serving both with Filch!"

"Ouch," he replied, holding a hand over his heart, smirking the whole time. And all was right with the world.

Lily watched this exchange with mild interest. She had to admit, Black's antics did get better as the years went by. It amazed Lily that McGonagall hadn't wrung his neck, especially after today. Suddenly some words started appearing on her blank parchment

_**I cannot believe he said that to McGonagall**_!

Lily smiled as she recognized Adria's handwriting, closely followed by Tessa's.

**I know!**

The three had worked most of their school career on bewitching their notebooks so they could write notes during class. Thankfully, none of them had lost their notebook.

_Even I have to admit, it was very funny!_ Lily replied, adding little smiley faces over her I's.

**Tell me about it!**

_**It was still stupid!**_Adria countered.

_True. I have to go. McGonagall is putting notes on the board._

_Overachiever!_Both Tessa and Adria answered. Lily just smiled and started copying down the notes.

James watched this exchange with a bit more interest than Lily had put into Sirius's antics. He'd long since found out about the enchanted notebooks. For a while, he suspected her of writing notes to her friends all class instead of copying down the notes the teacher assigned. But it didn't take long to figure out that she did not do that. Lily was fully devoted to her classes.

That was another thing he loved about her. She was smart. Not just book smart, either. Lily was the kind of girl who could point out every mistake you made on an essay, _and_ decode your Top Secret Marauder's notes at the same time. (It only took her half an hour!)

James spent the rest of the class watching her, contemplating his next move. He had to be polite and funny, but not the annoying and mean funny he was famous for. When the bell finally rang, signaling the end of the class, he knew what his next step would be.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

The rest of the day passed without much to report. They had Charms and Defense Against the Dark Arts. It turned out, McGonagall hadn't been lying; it was hard. They'd gotten an essay for each class, all due on the next Monday. The school year was starting to look a bleaker by the class period.

James sat in front of the fire in the Gryffindor common room, working on his DADA essay. It was a review on werewolves. (It was a piece of cake for the Marauders, who were all sitting around the fire.) For the most part, they worked in silence. Except for Remus; he was already finished. He sat talking to Adria, who had joined them a few minutes before.

"Come on Addie! Tell me."

"No!"

"Please!" She shook her head. "Fine, can I ask questions about him then?" Adria thought about this for a moment. It was pretty safe; it's not as if he would guess himself.

"All right, but nothing too specific."

"Fine. Is he in Gryffindor?"

"Umm…" '_Was that too specific?'_ "Yes."

"Do I have any classes with him?" She couldn't help but smile. _You have no idea._

"Yes."

He gave his next question careful thought. This could eliminate a few boys.

"Is he a Marauder?" _Uh-oh!_

"That's too specific." He just gave her a curious look.

"I can't think of anything else right now."

"Okay!" Adria was relieved that the questioning was over. She was afraid that he would trick her and somehow get it out of her. It was time to change the subject. "Are you going to tell me about your beginning of the year prank?"

"_No_!" the rest of the Marauders shouted, heads still bent toward their essays.

"I guess not," he said, chuckling. He looked down at his watch. "James, I think now is probably a good time."

"Thanks," James answered, gathering up his stuff and heading toward his own common room.

"Now is a good time for what?" Adria asked. She hated it when the boys started communicating in cryptic messages. Even those Top Secret Marauders' coded notes were annoying. They weren't that hard to figure out, but it still took time.

"Phase one," Remus answered mysteriously, leaving her more confused and aggravated than before.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

James ran through the halls, pulling out the Marauder's Map to help him avoid people on his way. Thankfully, he reached the tower before Lily came back from her walk. He sat down at his desk and began to work on his Charms essay. It was a good twenty minutes before he heard the portrait swing open and Lily walked in. Before she could escape to her room, he turned to face her.

"Evans, can you help me? I'm having trouble with this Charms essay. I don't get it."

She gave him a half confused, half amused look and walked a bit closer.

"You, the almighty, I can do anything, anywhere, anytime James Potter, are asking _me _for help?"

James at least had the decency to act embarrassed.

"Yes. Please?"

This threw Lily for a loop. She stood there stunned for a moment, and then nodded her head slowly. She placed her chair at his desk and pulled his essay towards her. Looking it over, she asked, "What exactly don't you get?

"Most of it," he admitted. "Charms is my weakest subject."

Lily just nodded and began to explain. To her surprise, he actually listened, and he even added to his notes from class. When she finally got him to understand, Lily left to go see her friends. All in all, James thought it had gone very well.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

When Lily finally showed up to meet her friends, they were very curious to know where she had been.

"I swear I was just helping Potter with his essay!" she cried for the fifth time.

"You can't _stand_ Potter, how could you stay in a room with him for _that_ long?" Tessa retorted.

"He was actually being civil."

"Sure, like James could go that long without asking you out. Face it, Lils, he's crazy for you," Adria added.

"He is not! He's just trying to annoy me to death! Besides, he didn't ask me out."

Her words were met by a stunned silence. Finally Adria said, "Wow."

"Enough about Potter's obsession with me…" Lily said turning toward Adria, "what about Remus?"

"What about Remus?" Angela asked, plopping down on the couch.

"Well, he started asking questions, thanks to you guys."

"What kind of questions?" Tessa asked, getting more comfortable in her seat.

"Well, I told him he could ask questions, but they couldn't be too specific. So he asked what year the guy was in, did he have any classes with him…" The others snickered at the thought of the answer. "…and then-"

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"I asked her if he was a Marauder and she said it was too specific!" Remus said, recounting the story to the rest of the group.

"Maybe it's you, Moony," James said, looking at his fellow Marauder. The other three had come up to the Head dorm as soon as they saw Lily enter the Gryffindor common room.

"Ha. She doesn't like me in that way."

"How do you know?" Peter asked, tossing yet another attempt at his essay into the fire.

"I'm one of her best friends. I know what she's like around guys she's interested in. Believe me; she does not act like that around me."

"Okay, Moony." Sirius's comment was followed by a cough that sounded suspiciously like 'Denial'.

"I'm changing the subject now. How did phase one work out? Did she yell?"

"No, she helped me with my essay. That's pretty much it. No fights, just a smart, beautiful woman helping a not-as-smart-but-still-kind-of-smart, dead sexy Marauder on his Charms essay," James replied with a triumphant look on his face.

"Yeah, yeah. Well, best of luck with that." Sirius yawned. "I think I'm going to go to bed. Need all the rest I can get for tomorrow."

"Yeah, I heard Filch is pretty feisty." James ducked as one of the cushions from the couch flew towards him.

"_Not_ what I was referring to!" Sirius yelled. The group kept laughing, even as three of its members left the Head Boy alone…but not for long. It wasn't five minutes before Lily came through the portrait hole. James gave her a smile and a wave as he made his way up the stairs.

To James's pleasure, they managed to run into each other in the bathroom a few minutes later.

"Potter, you scared me! How in the world did you get in here?" Lily gasped, hand flying to her heart as she whirled around. The bathroom was built to be easy access to both of the Heads, with some strict limits of course. Both of the doors were equipped with a lock on both doors and a few of the Founder's strongest anti-break and anti-peeking charms. She could've sworn that she had locked his door from the inside.

"Sorry. The door was unlocked and I didn't know you were in here! Scaring you wasn't my intention, I promise. Just came to brush my teeth," he said, holding up his toothbrush as a kind of white flag.

"Okay, but try not to sneak up on me like that anymore. And knock!"

"I will." It didn't take him very long to finish. As he went to shut his door, he turned toward Lily.

"Thanks again for helping me on that essay, Evans."

"Oh, you're welcome."

"Goodnight, Evans."

"Goodnight, Potter."

With that, he shut his door, leaving Lily to wonder about this new behavior.

_He must be sick, _Lily finally decided as she climbed into her bed that night.

**Authors Note: So there it is. You like it? Hate it? Well…review and tell me how**

**I'm doing! THANKS to my WONDERFUL beta for her endless patience and putting up with me and my endless mistakes for so long. Also thanks to my inspirations (Sara and Jenn) who'll probably never read this since I tell them about it first hand anyway.**


	3. Who Took My Bacon!

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything but my OCs! *breaks into hysterical sobbing***

The days went by quickly for Lily, and before she knew it, two weeks had passed. Tonight, she was really going to test James's Head Boy skills. For the first time since the beginning of term, they had rounds together. Dumbledore had given them two weeks to adjust to their new authority before giving them their schedules for rounds. For Lily, it was nothing new. James, however, was ecstatic.

He badgered Remus for every piece of information on rounds, which, as it turned out, wasn't very much. To James, they actually sounded boring. Yes, they got to be out after hours, but they weren't going to be doing anything fun. So he decided that he would use the opportunity to his advantage.

* * *

Lily sat up in her old dormitory, chatting with her friends. They were on the subject of their least favourite class, Potions. Tessa was ranting about her partner for the new project, Severus Snape.

"I'm telling you, as much as I hate Black, I'd rather have him for a partner. Whenever I look at Snape, I see him with fireworks coming out of his pants!" Even Lily had to laugh as she remembered. The day after the whole 'nice Potter' thing had begun, the Marauders pulled their beginning of the year prank.

Nobody quite knew how they did it, but they had managed to get a bunch of fireworks down Snape's pants and set them off during Potions. Despite the fact that someone (other than Snape) could have gotten hurt, Lily thought that it was pretty funny.

"You've got to hand it to them, that was funny!" Adria giggled.

"Ugh," Lily said, looking down at her watch, "I've got to go, I've got rounds tonight."

"With Potter?"

"Yes…why?"

"No reason. I just don't want to find out tomorrow that you murdered him and stuffed him down a toilet." Angela answered with a look of total innocence on her face.

"Honestly, don't you have any faith in me? I'd feed him to the pack of wolves we heard lives in the Forest. At least then it would look like an accident!"

Lily left her friends in the dormitory and made her way toward the portrait that guarded her new room. Thankfully, she arrived before James. She needed a few more minutes of mental preparation for the upcoming night. She had never purposely spent such a lengthy amount of time alone with him. It only took a few minutes for him to arrive. They set off, Lily leading the way

Most of the evening was spent in silence, but not a completely uncomfortable one. Well, not on Lily's end. James, however, was starting to get worried. He wanted to say something, but wasn't sure what to talk about. He mentally smacked himself for not asking Remus.

"You're awfully quiet, Potter," Lily said finally.

"I know. I mean, what do you talk about during rounds? Is there any specific subject? What about school?" Lily was startled by this. She gave him a weird look and laughed.

"You just _talk_ Potter. That's it."

"Boys? It'd be weird, but I can do that." He made his voice squeaky and girlish and put his hands on his hips as he sashayed through the halls. "Oh Lily, did you see that fit Amos today? I almost died when he looked at me!"

By this point, Lily had gone from shock, to dying from laughter

"I'm _serious,_ Lily!" he squealed, "I'd jump him in a second."

"S-stop it Potter!" she gasped, "That's not what we talk about!"

"Good,' he said, returning his voice to normal. "I really don't want to talk about guys. That is, unless you're warning me that they are gay and someone has their eye on me."

"Alright, I'll remember that. How about we check out this broom closet?" James nodded his consent and opened the door.

"Speak of the devil." James grinned as Amos Diggory and Ellen Carter tumbled out of the doorway. He looked over at Lily and raised his eyebrows.

"Looks like Ellen and I think alike," James said in that high pitched voice. Lily tried not to laugh. This was a time to be serious.

"Diggory, Carter, I expected better. Ten points from Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. Get back to your houses."

They left without a word, leaving James chuckling and Lily fuming in their wake.

"That was fun. Let's do it again." James suggested eagerly.

* * *

"So," Angela said, taking a piece of bacon from Tessa's plate and earning a wrist slap, "I see Potter's still alive."

"Regrettably so, it's too bad; he wasn't as annoying as usual. I was fully prepared to call in the wolves."

"Are you sick?" Adria asked, and at the same time, successfully attempted to sneak a piece of bacon while Tessa wasn't looking. Lily watched a relieved look pass over her friend's face as she snacked on the fruits of her victory.

"No…why?"

"One, two, three…I had four pieces! Who took it?" She looked over at Sirius at the exact moment he was putting a piece of bacon into his mouth. "_Black_!"

"Yes, Tessie my dear. Did you finally realise your undying love for me?"

"No! Did you take my bacon? I had four pieces, but now I only have…" she trailed off as she looked down at her plate. There, lying next to her eggs, were four pieces of bacon.

Lily watched her confused friend with a smile. Sometime during Tessa's tirade at Sirius, Adria had put another piece of bacon next to the remaining three. Tessa looked up at a grinning Sirius.

"Never mind."

"Why?" Lily repeated.

"You gave Potter a compliment." They burst into laughter as Angela pretended to faint, falling onto T.J.

"Shut up." Lily muttered, at a loss for a good comeback. Why had she done that? _Because he deserved it. _Potter didn't deserve anything. He was a bullying toe rag. _Then why did you do it? _...Shut up.

* * *

They day passed without anything special happening. Sirius got another detention, Peter set James on fire, and Lily spent the rest of the day immersed in her studies.

James sat by the fire, sleeve rolled up as he applied more of the ointment Madame Pomfrey had given him.

"I cannot believe you set me on fire!"

"I'm sorry! I was trying to put the fire out, not make it worse!" Peter wailed for the umpteenth time. It was all he had said for the past few hours.

"Oh, lay off him Prongs, It was an accident," Remus said, not even looking up from his book. Not only had they heard nothing but apologies and excuses from Peter, they had heard nothing but complaints from James.

"I know! That doesn't make it stop hurting, though!"

"Suck it up! What happened to the tough Quidditch player I used to know and love?" Sirius cried, turning his parchment into a tissue so he could wipe his eyes.

"…Ewww."

"Not like that! Hey…you didn't answer my question."

"He's gone, replaced by a love-sick, cry-baby," Remus answered for him.

"_Hey_!"

"True."

"_Hey_! I'm not the only love-sick one around here. What about you, Remus?" James protested.

"I'm not chasing after her or pulling stunts to get her attention," Remus pointed out.

"I'm not doing that anymore! Besides, Moony, I did get Lily's attention," James argued. Remus had to admit, James had gotten Lily's attention…maybe not in the way he was aiming for, but it was attention all the same.

"Good point, but still. I don't want her to think that about me. She now finds what I do amusing. I'm afraid that anything more will make her think I'm a prat."

"I don't think that could ever happen, Moony," James said, smirking.

"That's your opinion." Remus answered. Despite his worries, he couldn't help but hope that James was right.

* * *

"_Black_!"

"What?"

It was the next day and Sirius was trying to sneak around and set up a prank for newcomers. He turned around to see a smirking Tessa. He stared at her for a second before becoming extremely scared. He'd seen her smirk like that before. It was usually followed by…

"Mr. Black! What are you doing?" McGonagall asked, walking up beside of Tessa.

"Why, Minnie! I didn't know you were coming down this corridor…right now."

"As it so happens," McGonagall answered, taking another step forward, "I was taking a shortcut to the library. What are you doing down here?'

"I was looking for my girlfriend." Sirius quickly lied.

"Oh, really? Who's the lucky girl?"

"Well, if you must know, my girlfriend is… Tessa, Tessa Daniels. As you can see, she found me instead."

Tessa had just been standing there, minding her own business (as in watching Sirius squirm) when suddenly her happy day came crashing down.

"Black…"

"Tessie, dear, how many times do I have to remind you? Now that we're dating, you can call me by my first name."

"Don't call me Tessie!" she snapped. Tessa didn't even have time to tell McGonagall the truth before she said, walking away from the pair, "I do look forward to seeing the two of you together!"

"Tessa didn't even wait before the professor was out of earshot before she slapped Sirius on the side of the head and yelled, "The Hell, Black? Me, your girlfriend? I think _not_!"

"Listen-"

"_No_! You listen. You go catch up to McGonagall and tell her the truth, or I will!"

"Listen, Tessa. This only has to last about two or three weeks," Sirius said, rubbing the sore spot on his head.

"How do you figure that?" she sneered.

"Well… you know me. It's just like James told me at the start of term feast, my attention span for one girl is reasonably short.'

"True…so what?" Tessa had an idea where this was all going.

"McGonagall knows that too! So, it wouldn't be abnormal if we break up fairly quickly. Alright?"

Tessa thought about this for a moment. It was _Black,_ for crying out loud! Oh…what the hell. What did she have to lose? If anything, this could be the perfect opportunity to pester him to death.

"Fine. Touch me and you die!" With that, she left. Sirius watched as his new girlfriend walked down the corridor. Well, he was watching her bottom half at least.

"Lovely."

* * *

Shouts of "You _what_?", "Really?", and "I knew it…" rang out in the common room later that night. Unfortunately, Tessa hadn't been able to keep her little deal with Sirius as quiet as she had hoped.

"It's just for…hey, wait. You knew _what_, exactly, Angela?" Tessa said, her eyes narrowed.

"I knew you liked Black."

"I did _not_!" Tessa shouted, throwing one of the couch pillows at Angela. There was a brief silence before anyone pointed out what she had just said.

"_Did_?" Adria asked. Tessa gave her an odd look, not getting the point.

"You did not, as in you do now." Angela added, smirking.

"What? No, I don't like Black. Never have, never will," Tessa said, shaking her head as she said it.

"Well…why did you agree?" Lily asked, putting down her homework so she could give the conversation her full attention.

"Why not? It's an interesting way to pass the time. Besides…he'll owe me big after this."

"Well, Tessa…" Sirius said as he sat down beside of her, putting his arm around her shoulders. "What do you have in mind?" He wiggled his eyebrows to make sure she knew what _he_ had in mind. Tessa shoved him away and gave him a look of disgust.

"Three feet away from me at all times, Black!"

Lily watched the two bicker for a few more minutes before deciding to call it a night. She gathered up her things and headed off to her dormitory.

That night Lily ran into James in the bathroom. For the first time in what seemed like forever, at least to James, _she_ began a civil conversation with _him_.

"Did Black tell you?" James almost thought for a second that maybe she wasn't talking to him. After all, conversation wasn't required to brush teeth.

"Uh…yes. Sounds like a crazy plan to me."

"You can say that again. I mean, she can't stand to be around him. How are they going to _date_?"

"They could just sit near each other and talk."

Lily gave him a look that said 'as if'. She finished brushing her teeth and looked over at James.

"We're talking about Black, Potter. He can't just sit and talk to one girl for over an hour without trying to make a move." Lily watched as he rinsed his brush and turned to her.

"Maybe he can change," he suggested, "It is possible Evans." James smiled at Lily's perplexed look. "Goodnight."

**Authors note: So, what'd ya think? Please review and tell me. **


	4. Purple Fuzzy Blankets and Bra Straps

**Disclaimer: I still don't own anything but my OCs!!!! *still crying***

Tessa grimaced as she heard _the_ voice. The voice that belonged to the man who had made her life very…interesting (yes, that was the word) the day before. Maybe if she closed her eyes it would go away.

"Tessie, my love,"

No, it definitely wasn't going away. "Your dream man has arrived!" Sirius flopped down into the seat next to her. He went to throw his arm around her shoulders, but stopped when she threw him a death glare. Unfortunately, McGonagall picked that moment to walk into the classroom. Before Tessa could protest, Sirius threw his arm around her shoulder, causing her to almost fall sideways.

She fought the urge to smack him stupid. That is, until McGonagall turned to face the board. As soon as she was turned, Tessa shoved Sirius off of her and wiped her hands on Adria's shirt.

"Ewww…now I might catch stupid," Adria whispered angrily, causing Tessa to break out into laughter.

Lily watched this exchange in amusement. There was no way that Black could keep his hands off of Tessa. Ja-Potter was wrong. A guy just doesn't up and change for a girl. Especially when he knows that he is a constant source of annoyance for that girl. Speaking of Potter, he had been quiet all morning. Then again, so had she. She thought that maybe he had realized how stupid his suggestion had been the night before and just didn't want to admit it. Little did she know, it was all part of his plan.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Sirius was sitting next to Tessa, minding his own business, when out of nowhere a paper wad hit him square in the back of the head. He spun around in his seat to find the offender; but he could only see James smiling as he read his book (probably thinking about one of his _special_ dreams that involved Evans) and Remus rolling his eyes.

Shaking his head at his poor, love sick friend, he opened up the paper wad/bullet. Inside was James's handwriting. _Remember, take it slow. Don't get her mad at you on your first day!_ Sirius was about to answer back when McGonagall announced that they should partner up and practice

"No goofing off! I want to see blankets!" He looked over at Tessa to see if she was going to partner up with Lily. If she was, he was going to remind her that they were dating and should be partners. If that didn't work, he would be forced to beg. Thankfully for him, she didn't seem to be moving from her seat.

There were a few minutes of shuffling before everybody found their desired partner. Lily looked up from her notes to see that her three friends had abandoned her. They had partnered up with their boyfriends, or in Adria's case, guy friend. Cursing them all to the depths of hell, she turned to her right to find none other than James sitting beside of her.

"Go away, Potter." she growled.

"But Evans, two of your friends are partnered with my two friends. That leaves us," he almost whined.

"No, Potter. That leaves you to find a different partner. Now, go away." Lily turned her back on him to look around the room. Her mood plummeted when she found that _everyone_ had a partner…everyone except Potter that is. With a grumble she turned back around to him. "Fine."

They practiced in silence for a few minutes, both too caught up in the work to talk. After James had successfully Transfigured his handkerchief into a fuzzy quilt, he looked over to see a frustrated Lily. He let her try another time before he offered his assistance.

"No thanks, Potter. I don't need your help" she snapped. He watched her try unsuccessfully two more times before she turned back to him. She mumbled something inaudible and gestured toward the limp handkerchief on her desk.

"What, Evans? I can't hear you." James asked, trying to keep a confused look on his face. Lily let out an exasperated sigh.

"Will you please help me with this, Potter?"

"Oh, yes of course. I think you might be moving your wand a bit wrong. Try it like this."

James demonstrated the correct way to do it and Lily mocked his movements.

"No…here, like this." He grabbed Lily's hand and did the movement again. As soon as he was finished, he dropped it. Thankfully, it seemed as if Lily completely ignored the contact. Following James's example, she tried one last time. As soon as the words were out of her mouth, a large, fuzzy, purple quilt appeared on the desk. She squealed in delight and grabbed it.

"Potter….thanks."

James just nodded his head. On the inside, however, he was jumping all over the place. She had thanked him! _Him_, James Potter. The day couldn't get any better.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

On the other side of Lily, things weren't going as well. Tessa couldn't believe she had agreed to this. The more time she spent with Sirius, the more he got on her nerves. It seemed that no matter what she said or did, he took it in a perverted way

"Black," she said, pointing at a textbook near his elbow, "that is a huge book." Truthfully, that was a lie. It was enormous. It was as big as eight textbooks put together.

"Why thank you love. Would you like to take a look at it?" he answered, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. Tessa just rolled her eyes and tried to Transfigure her handkerchief. It took her a few tries, but she finally produced a green blanket. Smiling with pleasure, she folded it neatly on top of her bag.

"That will definitely be useful," she mumbled, more to herself than to anyone.

"It sure will. Thank heavens you made it large enough to cover the both of us."

"The both of us?" She raised an eyebrow, curious as to how he had come up with that idea.

"Yes, for when we shag," he said simply, as if it were completely obvious.

"_Black_," she growled "let me make this clear. There will be no shagging. _Do you understand_?!"

Sirius just gave her a small nod, looking a little bit scared.

"Good."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"I still can't get over the fact that you like someone!" Remus exclaimed. It was true. The information still seemed a little strange to him. It just wasn't like Adria to like somebody in a romantic way.

"Why? Do you think it's impossible? I have dated before, Remus!" she replied angrily.

"That's not what I meant! I just meant that it is sort of sudden. Lily said that you were head over heels for this guy," he clarified. He hadn't meant for her to get offended. That was the last thing he wanted.

"Well…it's not really sudden. I've like him for awhile now. A few years actually."

This took Remus by surprise. Why hadn't she told him? He voiced those thoughts.

"I didn't think you wanted to hear about it. Plus, I knew you would ask a billion questions," she answered with a smile on her lips.

"Why wouldn't I ask a million questions? This person has caught your attention and managed to hold it longer than a week! That's pretty big in my book."

"That's true. Anyway, it was a billion, questions not a million."

Remus had to laugh at that. It was just like Adria to crack a joke when he was being serious. Sometimes the jokes didn't make any sense or weren't funny at all, but he laughed. It was the way she did it that made him laugh. Somehow, it reminded him of why he loved her. She had more brains than most people, but when it came to common sense and joke telling, she was below par.

The bell rang, signaling the end of class. As they walked into the hallway, they separated into their normal groups, promising to see each other at dinner. Well…it was more of an eye roll and a huff from Lily as she dragged her friends from the company of their respective boys, but as far as James was concerned, he was on cloud nine. Lily was going to be voluntarily around him. It was almost the best news he'd heard all day.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

The rest of the day passed in a blur. The groups had so much work piled on them, they had a tough time telling where their hands ended and their quills began. Sirius didn't even have time to bother his new girlfriend due to the fact he didn't want to drown in the massive piles of work in his future.

By the time that dinner rolled around, they were all falling asleep at the table. Lily watched in amusement as Remus talked to Adria. He was going on and on, without realising that she had fallen asleep, her head resting on the book she had been studying from. She had fallen asleep just a few minutes after Remus had started the conversation. It took him what seemed like forever to Lily to realise what had happened. She smiled as he chuckled and shook his head. He took the book out from under Adria's head, replacing it with his robe. It was so obvious that Remus liked her. Why she couldn't see it, Lily didn't know.

Turning her attention to her other friends, a similar sight met her eyes. Tessa was asleep with her head on one hand and her fork in the other. Every few minutes her head would slip off her hand, jerking her awake. Around the twentieth time, she gave up and laid her head down, flinging her hair everywhere in the process. It landed in her cup of juice and even her mashed potatoes. What happened next surprised and confused Lily. Sirius reached over and took Tessa's hair out of her food. He even took the fork from her hand. Lily looked over to see James looking at the pair. He seemed equally surprised, but soon a grin spread across his face. James looked up at Lily, the smug _I told you so _look still on his face. Lily gave him one of her infamous glares and went back to her dinner.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

James grinned as Sirius wiped the potatoes from Tessa's hair. It seemed like his friend was actually going to put some effort into this relationship. That or he wanted the potatoes from her hair. James hoped it was the former option.

He looked up to see Lily's look of surprise. He gave her a grin, clearly saying that he was right. She returned the favor with one of her more known glares. It was the look widely known as _Die, Potter_. The confrontation lasted only a few minutes before Lily went back to her dinner.

_Crap._ James hoped that she wasn't too angry with him. He spent the rest of dinner watching his friends closely. Every once in a while, Sirius would look over at Tessa and make sure no more of her hair made it into the food. Peter, it seemed, forgot that he was in a public place and started discussing the ups and downs of bogey eating with himself. Remus switched between talking to Lily, eating, and reading the book he had pulled out from under Adria's head earlier. Nothing more of interest happened during dinner. Well…at least not to James.

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Sirius leaned over his slumbering girlfriend and tapped her on the shoulder. When she didn't respond, he shook her. After a few shakes, he looked up at her friends.

"What's wrong with her?"

"Umm…nothing Sirius. She's just sleeping. You know, like normal people do," Adria. said, suppressing a yawn.

"Shake her some more. She'll wake up eventually," Angela promised as she walked by.

Sirius took her advice, but to no avail. Confused, he again looked up at her friends. It seemed that Lily wasn't even trying to hide the huge grin that was spread across her face. Starting to get frustrated, he pulled a piece of hair from her ear and yelled.

"Wake up, Tessa!"

Before he could even move back from her ear, she threw up her hand and waved him away. At least, that was most likely her intention. Instead, she hit Sirius in the face. He jumped back and yelped. Rubbing his nose, he glared at his laughing friends. Now he was mad. He was trying to think of the perfect way to get her back when an idea hit him. He reached down toward her back and grabbed her bra. Drawing it back, he couldn't help but grin. He let it go.

_Snap_

Tessa jumped up and spun around. "The HELL?" Her eyes quickly scanned the sight before her. Her best friends and three of the Marauders were rolling on the floor laughing. The fourth Marauder (and in her opinion, by far the most annoying) stood off to the side, looking everywhere but her. It didn't help his case any when he started to whistle.

"_Black_! Why did you do that?" she half growled, half whined.

"Because! You were asleep! I would've done something else to wake you up, but you hit me!"

"I did not!" she said, already knowing it was a lie. Sirius's nose was a bright red, Clearly, someone had hit him

"Yes you did!"

"No I didn't!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Ye—look, I'm tired. Let's just get back to the tower/ Sound good to you?"

This threw Tessa off. He had never turned down an opportunity to argue and pester the life out of her before. She nodded her head and began to look for her bag. She knew she'd left it somewhere, but for the life of her, couldn't remember exactly where.

"Hey Tessa! Come on!" Sirius yelled from the entrance.

"Hold on," she yelled back, turning toward him, "I can't find my…" Halfway through the sentence she realized that Sirius had it. She smiled and walked quickly, catching up to him.

"Ready?" he asked, a small smile on his face.

"Yes. You could've told me you had it." She reached to grab it, but he wouldn't give it back. He started down the hallway with Tessa following by his side.

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James and Lily left their friends at the Gryffindor common room and headed off towards the head's rooms. They walked in a comfortable silence. They were both too deep in thought to talk.

Lily was thinking about her friends. Angela had a stable relationship. T.J was a great guy who treated her well. There was nothing to worry about there. Adria and Remus would be together eventually, there was no doubt about that. It was just a matter of time. Tessa's relationship was what had Lily confused. Sirius was starting to baffle Lily. Sure, he had acted like his normal self for most of dinner, but he had also acted nice towards Tessa. He acted like he was trying. Lily had seen him carrying Tessa's bag, something he hadn't done with any of his previous girlfriends.

That night, the thoughts continued to circle around in Lily's head as she showered and got into bed. The only logical reason for Sirius's behavior (besides a prank) was that he actually liked Tessa. For the first time in her almost seven years at Hogwarts, as she drifted off to sleep, Lily thought that maybe James had been right.

**A/N: I'm SOOOOOO sorry. It's been almost way too long. Between severe writers block and school this took an excessively long time for me to finish. If any of you are still reading this, thank you! Please review and tell me what you thought about it. For all of you who reviewed for the last chapter THANK YOU!! **


	5. A Party to Plan

Disclaimer: I do not own this lovely story, only my OCs.

**Author's Note: Geez …it's been awhile. I could never seem to find the time or the energy during the school year to write. My AP teacher had us doing homework every night. And what do you know; I went ahead and signed myself up for yet another year! Hopefully I can balance out work and play this time around. I've ebb trying my hardest to write this summer, but I have summer homework from all of my classes. Fun, I know. Well here's my next installment, I hope you like it.**

The next two weeks of school we hectic. The sheer amount of homework was astounding. It started to seem as if all of the teachers were experts in Occulmency. Every time the students even thought about a day without homework, they received another four feet in each class. On one such day, James sat at his desk working on his latest pile. It was an in-depth description on the process of Apperating. It was true that most of the seventh years had already passed their tests, but that didn't stop Flitwick from making sure that they could describe every minute detail. James thanked the stars that he had given then such an easy essay. It was as close to a break as they had received so far.

Suddenly the portrait hole opened, startling him. Lily stepped into the room, her face buried in a book. James looked up at her and smiled. He had always loved to watch her read. Her face was so expressive. James felt as if she was reading the book himself, just by watching the different expressions play across her face. It was one of the many reasons James loved to share a dorm with her. He could watch her read without Sirius interrupting his thoughts. It was wonderful.

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Lily looked up from her book to find James looking at her. Before she could say anything, he gave her a small smile and turned back to his essay. Lily lay down on the couch and went back to her book. Angela had lent it to her that morning, with high praise. She said it was one of the best books she had ever read and that it had a storyline that Lily could relate to.

Much to her surprise, Angela was right. Well, at least in part. Angela was known for her love of sappy and graphic romance novels, so Lily had every right to be wary. Thankfully, it wasn't Angela's usual cup of tea. Lily loved it. She had carried it in her pocket all day, pulling it out during any spare moment where she wasn't trying to work her lake sized pile of work. So far the story was about this beautiful, independent woman's struggle in life she's not welcome in. All the while fighting off annoying suitors who would just get in her way. No, Lily didn't see how she could relate to this story at all.

Lily was so immersed in her book that she didn't notice James get up and head toward the portrait hole. His voice brought her to reality.

"What? I didn't catch that," she asked, sitting up.

"Are you coming?" he repeated.

"Why would I be going anywhere with you? I don't remember losing my mind lately."

"Well, we could go separately, but one of us would be late. I don't want to be late and in would ruin your perfect attendance. I doubt Dumbledore would like his Head Girl being late to her first official Heads meeting."

_Oh, crap_. Lily had completely forgotten about the meeting. "Oh! Right, yes I'm coming. Give me a minute," She answered, laying her book down on the cushion. She stood up and noticed her feet. Sometime during her reading, she had slipped off her shoes. She scanned the floor, spotting one lying by the table. The other one, however, had mysteriously disappeared. After a few more seconds of frantic searching, she found it behind the couch. How it got there, she had no idea. But she didn't have time to dwell on the solution.

Grabbing her bag, she half ran, half hopped over to James, stopping only when she reached her destination. Making sure the shoe was on securely, she looked up at the man in front of her.

"Ready?" he asked with a hint of amusement in his voice.

"Ready."

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They arrived at Dumbledore's office on time. It was a very silent trip. The only sound that had been made between the two of them had been the echoing of their footsteps. James reached forward and knocked on the door, coming extremely close to Lily.

"Enter."

The door swung open slowly, revealing a tired looking Dumbledore sitting at his desk. A dark cloud hung over the room, seeming to emanate from the Headmaster himself. Once the two had settled down into their chairs he looked up from the papers on his desk, the twinkle absent from his eye.

"I suppose we should get right down to business. As you both are aware, there is a great evil rapidly rising to power. Many of the students here have felt the long reach of his horrible cause. The spirit so long upheld here at Hogwarts is diminishing," he paused, giving the pair in front of him a grave look. "As Head Boy and Girl, I'm making it your responsibility to plan an event to, hopefully, raise morale. I suggest you use this meeting to come up with an idea, that way you don't have to schedule another meeting to run it past me."

"Alright," Lily answered. She was already reaching into her bag and pulling out a piece of parchment and some ink. Her quill, however, had yet to be found.

"Are we misplacing a lot of things today?" James asked jokingly. "Here, use this."

She looked up to find James handing her his quill. She gave him a small smile and accepted it. "Thank you. Do you have any ideas?"

"Yes, actually. With many years of being a marauder under my belt, I can confidently say that a good old fashioned party raises the spirits like you would not believe," James answered with a smile on his face. "What do you think?"

_Wait…was he asking my opinion? This is new. _In the previous years he would have just taken charge and left her in the background. Maybe he was finally growing into his role as Head Boy. Lily mentally shook herself. The idea maybe a decent one , but as Head girl, she wasn't going to condone an event that was going to most likely end with the majority of the Hogwarts population so drunk that they can't walk.

"It's decent. But what's to prevent someone from bringing their own 'spirits'? That's happened before; I don't have to remind you of that Potter. You yourself are a prime example," Lily gave herself a mental high five and James's confident demeanor dropped a few notches.

"That only happened once, Evans. We were younger back then! I think we've all grown up enough not to spike the punch."

Lily's '_yeah, right'_ look sent that excuse right out of the window.

"Fine. We'll have teachers chaperone. They can pat us all down if they feel it's necessary. How does that sound?"

It was much better in fact. Hopefully with teachers, there would be few people who would tempt the fates and bring a drink. Plus, Black would finally get all of that bodily contact with McGonagall that he had been begging for since First Year.

"Fine, but Professor McGonagall has to be there."

"Sirius wouldn't have it any other way. Does all of this seem reasonable to you Headmaster?" James looked up at Dumbledore. A tiny smile was on his face and a small sparkle in his eyes. The effect of just those two factors was enormous. The Headmaster looked twenty years younger.

"Yes, so far it sounds wonderful. Now, as Mr. Potter suggested, you will need to get a large group of the teachers to volunteer to chaperone. I also suggest that you gather a committee. Just choose a few trustworthy friends that you can count on to do their fair share of the work. Within this workgroup you will need to decide on a theme and decorations. I'm also very sure that the House Elves will appreciate the thought if you would send down the menu a week in advance. That is, if you decide to serve food." he paused to look at the pair in front of him. Lily was diligently taking down notes, while James peered at the list at what he assumed was a 'safe' distance. Dumbledore allowed himself a small smile. Despite all of their differences, he knew that he had picked a perfect pair of Heads. They might not see it now, but they complemented each other.

"Do you have any other questions?"

"No. However, we haven't picked a date," Lily answered, scanning her list.

"How about Christmas Eve? That's bound to raise spirits. Christmas is spectacular here, but most of the students don't get to see it! Plus, think of those who have lost a parent ,or even both, fighting against this new "lord". Having a party during break would give them a happier reason to stay," James looked tentatively at the beautiful, red-head to his left. She slowly met his gaze. Of all of the things he meant to inspire in her, the look he received was not one of them. Pure, utter confusion.

Before he got a chance to ask about the look, Dumbledore spoke.

"Splendid. That works perfectly Thank you for doing this. I'm positive this will be worth all of the extra time you spend on it. It's time the two of you get back to your tower. Even the Heads aren't above getting a detention for being out and about when they don't have rounds. Goodnight."

James gathered his bag in silence He didn't understand. It's not like he expected her to go to tears, fall on her knees, and sing his praises. _How considerate he'd been, how she's been wrong, she really did love him, and yes, she would bear his children. _But he expected _somethin_g. At the very least a nice 'Good idea, Potter.'

After they reached their common room, James watched his beautiful mystery walk up the stairs to her room, without so much as a 'goodnight.' He just shook his head, and headed up to bed.

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What had happened? He was…different. It was like he understood, cared even. For the first time lily Evans considered the possibility that James potter actually had a half functioning brain within that blimp sized head of his. _No_n Nothing had changed. He was the same. One speech about making others feel better did not change anything. He was the same bullying, pig headed toe rag he had always been.

Her swimming thoughts finally stilled, Lily settled down to sleep.

Authors Note: So what did you think? I'm sorry it took so long and that this is pretty short. I figured something is better than nothing. I hope I can update faster, but no guarantees! Lovies to my Sarakins, Jenniferkins, and Ashwee. I'd also like to thank my most wonderfully perfect boyfriend, even though he doesn't know he helped.


	6. Meetings and Theories

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything but my OCs, but if you're offering I'm all ears.**

**Authors Note: I'm back! Whoot! It's about time. I'm so sorry for the long wait. I guess I didn't anticipate Senior Year being as hard as it was. Or as stressful. I'm happy to report that I have made it out, hair intact. This week is graduation practice and D-day is Saturday, and I'm in the mood to write. I'm going to try to get as much in this summer as I can, seeing as I have no idea how Freshman Year at college is going to go. Wish me luck! Here is the long awaited (and a bit shorter than I'd like) Chapter 6!!!!**

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Lily awoke to a knocking at her door. Groaning, she looked at her watch. It was 9:05. Normally an early riser, she was taken by surprise by the urge to ignore the time and go back to bed. Deciding that her body knew best, she pulled the covers up farther and closed her eyes.

_Knock, knock, knock_

She was going to kill whoever was on the other side of that door. Stumbling through sleep filled eyes; she reached the door and jerked it open. No one was there. Lily peeked her head out of the door to look down the staircase. It didn't look like anyone was there either. As she shut the door, the urge to sleep came over her again. Another hour wouldn't hurt anything. One leg was already in the bed when it happened again. The persistent knocker was back. Now that she was more awake, it became apparent that the knocking was coming from the bathroom, not the stairs.

"Stupid Potter," Lily growled. "Stupid Potter and his knocking. It's barely after 9:00 on a Saturday! I swear, if this is something stupid I am going to-" Putting on her best 'I Hate James Potter' look, she flung the door open. A trill of feminine laughter met her ears. Taken aback, Lily took a better look at the bathroom's occupants. Standing there against the porcelain sinks was Tessa, Adria, and Angela.

"I hate you all," Lily grumbled as she began to close the door. A hand stopped its progress and the three offenders stepped into her room.

"Why are you here? Not that I would mind normally, But I was sleeping! It's Saturday! I could never get you guys up before noon. Wait, did one of you finally get a watch?" she asked, flopping down onto the bed letting her eyes drift shut. The three solid thumps and shakes that followed her friends as the jumped onto the bed caused them to snap back open.

"First, yes to the watch, Adria has stepped into the 'dormitory mother' position. Second, we're here because Potter propositioned us this morning," Angela answered, her voice muffled. Lily looked over to find that Tessa had managed to land on Angela. They were in the rather comical process of untangling themselves. "No, it's not what you're thinking. He saw that we were up before you and asked us to be on the committee."

"I knew it. Potter _is_ the root of all things annoying," Lily mumbled.

"What? I didn't catch that," Adria asked, not taking her eyes off of the pair at the end of the bed.

"It was nothing. What was the reason for waking me up? I'm sure it could've waited another hour."

"Well, maybe it could've. Unfortunately, we anticipated you up two hours ago. However, we now only have roughly forty-five minutes for you to get bathed and presentable."

"What?" Lily sputtered, "Since when does getting up on a Saturday have a deadline?"

"Since we told Potter you would be ready by ten. We, as a newly formed committee, have decided to get the ball rolling as soon as possible."

"Ha, that's not true," Angela said, rolling her eyes. "She just wants to see her Remmie as soon as possible." Adria just smiled guiltily and gave the tattle tale a shove.

Lily shook her head at her friends. "Fine, but the sooner I get ready, the sooner Tessa has to face her sweetheart Sirius."

"Oh hell, I forgot!"

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"I, Sirius Black, hereby call this meeting to order. Please bow before your master before being seated."

Tessa punched him in the arm, causing a rather feminine yelp from her 'boyfriend'. "You are in no way my master. Thank God I only have to put up with you for one more week. Why anyone would put up with you when they _do _like you is beyond me."

"You know, you're right. I'm not your master-"

"Nor anybody else's," Adria cut in.

"No...I am your _God! _No, no, Tessa don't hit - _Ouch! That hurt!_" Sirius rubbed his arm, a smile on his face. "Fine, I delegate all my godly power to James," he said, throwing his arm around his 'girlfriend'. Tessa shifted, subtly trying to wiggle her way out from under the offending appendage. The struggle was nothing if not comical. It looked as if she had an itch and was trying to use the couch to alleviate her problem. A few more seconds of this crazy, seated jig and she gave up completely.

"Is everybody ready? I, James Potter, hereby call this party committee to order. Lily and I had a meeting with Dumbledore last night to discuss the basics." Nodding his head to Lily, he sat back and watched the love of his life go from half- sleepy to awake and Head girl mode.

"We have decided that the ball should be on Christmas Eve and the Professors should be present. The rest is open for debate. Any ideas?" Lily looked around the group, noticing a few missing faces. "Angela, where's T.J?"

"Oh, he didn't want to help. He would rather sit back and enjoy our hard work," she replied, an annoyed look passing over her face. Lily briefly wondered if they were having problems, then immediately dismissed the idea. Angela and T.J were a happy couple. Not a harsh word had passed between them in two years they had been together. They almost rivaled Alice and Frank.

"Where are Alice and Frank? I figured they would be part of this too."

"Alice and Frank would like to be excused from this meeting on account of an incredibly romantic breakfast-in-bed date," Adria answered, a broad grin on her face. It sounded terribly romantic to Lily. She wondered if anyone sitting here would ever have something quite like that. Only time would tell.

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"Well, while we're on the topic of romance, why not a masquerade? Those always bring out the inner romantic in everyone," suggested Tessa. The motion, however, was not widely accepted by the males of the group. A distinctive snort came from Tessa's right.

"Oh please, Tessie. A masquerade? We're trying to raise spirits, not turn everyone into a pile of lovey-dovey mush. The proper way to raise spirits is an old fashioned Marauder blow-out bash," Sirius objected. Amidst this rant was a brief moment when his need to describe with his hands left Tessa free to escape. Unfortunately, the moment was too short. Before she could jump over to he other end of the seat, the offending arm landed upon her shoulders and gripped her with renewed vigor. Officially trapped, Tess let out a sigh. It wasn't so bad anyway. Shivering in the morning cold, she sank closer to his side. While she was there, she might as well use the human heater next to her. She wasn't even going to bother calling him on the nickname.

"Honestly Sirius, I'd rather have the school lovey-dovey than drunk off their arse thanks to your 'good old fashioned Marauder blow-out bash'."

"You are obviously off of your rocker. Parties don't make people drunk, alcohol bearing people make people drunk. Plus, masquerades are incredibly over done. There's no fun in it anymore," he replied, looking down at the woman snuggled to his side. He shifted, making it more comfortable for her.

Tessa looked up at her heater and sucked in a small breath. There was no point in denying it. Sirius Black was the best looking man in Hogwarts. Tessa had long ago accepted that fact. However, it still caught her by surprise when she caught those eyes looking at her in concern. It had nothing to do with the man behind the looks, she told herself. Hell, put that body on Dumbledore and she would have the same reaction. She looked away and snuggled even closer to the man. She would miss this.

_Wait...what?_

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Lily surveyed the 'couple' closely. Over the course of the past two weeks, she had observed several things out of place with the pair. First, was the small issue of homework.

There were many things Lily found annoying about Sirius, but one of the main ones was that despite his obvious disregard for out-of-class work, he still managed to be in the top five of his classes. However, night after night, he was seen sitting beside Tessa in front of the Heads room fire with an essay in his lap. This spectacle alone was enough to make Lily look twice at their faux relationship.

To someone who hadn't been ringside to the pair's animosity over the past years, it was nearly impossible to tell that there was much of an emotional difference with the two. They still argued and sniped with each other, but it held less venom to Lily's ears.

The physical aspect of the 'relationship' had also changed over the weeks. Needless to say, the 'arms length' rule didn't last long under McGonagall's knowing glare. After a few days Tessa finally broke down and let Sirius hold her hand, although it came with a grimace. Things had progressed slowly from there. Hugs after class had been given the green light next. Then a kiss on the cheek before bed had made its appearance. Unfortunately for Sirius's nose, a goodnight kiss had been put on the _Don't even think about it _list without his prior knowledge.

Looking at the two now, it was hard to tell that they didn't have real feelings for each other. Lily watched as Sirius shifted to make the woman next to him more comfortable. It was little things like this that made Lily suspicious.

Second was the issue of food. It was a well known fact that Sirius black never shared his food, not unless it was with a Marauder. Many a girls heart had been crushed over a piece of spare toast. But Lily had witnessed, on more than one occasion, Sirius giving Tessa something off of his plate. The first time it had been a piece of bacon; a replacement for the one Adria had taken from her plate. The second had been half of the last cupcake one night at dinner. Potter had watched, mouth agape, as the sweet was passed to Tessa instead of himself. It had been a rather enjoyable moment for Lily, until his gaze had turned to her, with a significant look in his eyes.

The last was Sirius's new found habit of defending Tessa. Before the deal had been struck he would had laughed at the harsh comments thrown at her by a Slytherin named Lilith Kingsford. The blonde elitist had once held a position in their close knit group before she found her true calling as Lucius Malfoy's kept woman. Lilith had a nasty habit of dredging up the past in a public way. Now, however, Sirius came unbidden to Tessa's aid. No other girlfriend of the infamous Sirius Black had ever received such preferential treatment.

Lily was sure Tessa had noticed all of the anomalies, but wasn't certain that she knew their significance. Across from her, Sirius planted a kiss on Tessa's forehead to get her attention. It seems as if Tessa had been on a planet of her own. Yes, she would have to discuss her findings with Adria and Remus. There was no need to bring Potter into the picture. She didn't particularly feel like having her face rubbed in it today.

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"_Okay_, I say we call it a draw for today," James suggested, hi head in his hands. Not much headway was made in the day's meeting. Half of the group was still stuck on the masquerade debate. "Unless we can think of something else to argue about, I think we should call our first meeting to a close? Any objections?" His question was met with a few sighs and groans, but a general _no_. He sat back in his chair and watched as the members of the committee drifted their own ways. Tessa said something to Sirius, disentangled herself from his side, and walked out of the room. Seeing an opportunity to pester his best friend, James claimed Tessa's vacant seat.

"Lover's spat? She seemed to run out of here awfully fast."

"Oh, shut it you." Sirius punched James on the arm, a smile plastered on his face. "No spat, she just said needed to take a walk. How about you Prongs? How's the love life? Has Lilyflower fallen for the Potter Charm yet?"

"Unfortunately no, my good man. It seems as if she is immune," he answered, a small amount of disbelief in his voice. "However, phase two has yet to be put into play. It is then we will be able to see if the ol' charm is doing the trick."

"I dunno, Prongs. Perhaps she is immune. It has been thrown at her for almost seven years straight. Maybe it was too much?" Sirius grinned as the confident look on his friend's face fell an inch. "What do you think they're talking about over there?" he asked, gesturing to the corner where Lily and Adria sat, deep in conversation.

"I'm sure it's something girl centered that we would rather lick Snivillus than hear. Then again, they might be discussing the reason behind Tessa's walk. Girls know those kind of things without telling each other. I, for one, find the ability rather scary."

"Do you think there was a reason she went for the walk? Besides the whole fresh air and exercise aspect?" Sirius asked, an edge of concern evident in his voice. James watched his friend with curiosity. He'd never shown concern for his previous girlfriends. He let them so as they please and never worried if they 'emotional problems'. Then again, Sirius had been doing a lot of things he didn't normally do lately.

"Honestly, Pads, I don't know. But in my experience with girls, a seemingly random walk alone mean that she's upset and has to take some alone time to think about it."

"Oh. Should I go after her then?" he asked, clearly not listening for an answer. He was half way out of his seat when James grabbed him.

"You should probably let her have some time alone. If it is your fault, or concerns you in any way, you're bound to find out eventually. Believe me, you'll probably wish you never knew."

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Lily looked at Adria expectantly. The girl across from her had a thoughtful look on her face.

"What do you think? I've thought it all over countless times and I keep coming to the same conclusion," asked the redhead, almost bubbling with excitement. She had always loved to figure out a puzzle and being the first to do so was always a plus.

"I think you have a pretty strong case there, Miss Evans. All except for one crucial detail."

"What could I have missed? It's not as if I haven't put enough time into the theory. Not to mention the evidence I have to back it up!"

"You seem to be forgetting the one detail that disproves all of it. Sirius Orion Black doesn't _like_ girls. Girls like Sirius. It's the way of the universe," she answered, a look of complete honestly on her face.

"But don't you see Adria? That's the brilliance behind it all. The law of the universe has been broken! Sirius Black _likes_ a girl. Not just any girl, he like out _Tessa!_ One of his brilliant Marauder plans has backfired, and he has developed real feelings for a member of the opposite sex. It's incredible!"

"I'm still not sure about it, Lils. I'll talk to Remus and get his take on the theory though, if you would like. See if he sees the situation from the same point of view."

"That would be a tremendous help, thank you." Lily paused, a strange look on her face. "What if I'm right, Adria? What do we do? The deal is only good for another week. How do we figure out if Tessa feels the same in that time? Can you imagine try to get them to admit their feelings to each other? They are two of the most stubborn people to ever be placed in Gryffindor. What if they let that get in their way? What if--"

"Hey," Adria cut in, "you're getting ahead of yourself. The book Angela gave you really has gone to your head, hasn't it?"

"I'm sorry. You're right," Lily admitted. "I just want Tessa to be happy. Even if it's _Black_ that makes her that way. Is that so bad?"

"No, Lily. It most certainly is not."

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**Authors Note: So, was it worth the wait? Why not leave me a review and tell me!!! **

**So, like I said, it was shorter than I'd like. But I wanted to put this bit up as soon as possible. It's about time something was updated on here. **

**In the next chapter, I have Tessa's thoughts during her walk, and Remus's take on the situation. Those are just the definite ones. I plan on working my butt off to keep the chapters coming!!!**

**I NEED YOUR OPINION!!!!! Masquerade or no masquerade? Your input means the world to me!**

**BETA WANTED!!!! I have lost my beta and I am in severe need of one. I need a beta who is good with punctuation (especially when dealing with dialogue), spelling, grammar, and Briticisms. It wouldn't be bad if he/she was okay at POV changes either. Are there any takers out there? Could you point me in the right way?**

**Thanks to my muses Sara, Jenn, and Ash. There wouldn't be any fic without you. Also, thanks to Timmy who helped me get the drive to finish it back, even though that wasn't his intention.**


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